[azza]

my 84 sierra 1ltr has trouble keeping up charge to the battery with the
standard alternator. is there anything bigger that will fit on easily??

[oscar]

go to a auto elect to make sure its charging properly first, may have a diode out. if ya not running things offf it there not much point

[royce]

short answer is that isnt cause of the external regulator and stuff

easiest is to take the alternator to an auto electrician or wrecker and find one with te same or similar bolt pattern and fit it up and rewire it to suit the internal regulator

I fitted a Ford V8 one to mine 1 litre ages ago going this and wasnt really worth the effort

but like Oscar said get it checked out cause unless your running 34756738 light all te time it should keep up

[azza]

problem is, it is charging enough volts, but when I put the driving lights on (2x100w) the temp goes right up high, only thing I can think of is that the alt is working too hard or the voltage drop is too much and makiing the temp sender give false readings?? i've never seen this problem before!
I wouldn't think that the lights would put out that much heat that they make the car overheat!!

[sp1086]

Sorry for the long thread but this is important..

Watch where you ave grounded your driving lights.. If you've grounded them to the same point as the wiring harness there could be some nasty resistance or voltages going back up your harness causing your gauges to go ape S#%t. I recommend you run both positive (+) and negative (-) wires back to and as close as possible to the battery. Defiantly ground them directly to the (-) battery terminal not to the body of the vehicle or a bulbar..ect. keep your relay as close to the battery as you can with a 30A fuse between it and the battery.. You can get relays with a fuse built in from supercheap auto.

Now after saying all this if you measure the voltage drop at the battery when you have all lights running ect. and it goes below 12.5V you will need to look at the getting a larger alternator... Don't forget 2 x 100Watt spotties + your high beams which could be another 200Watts. That will give you 400Watts which draws close to or above 30A out of your electrics. Then you add the engine's running requirements prob another 10A+ your getting up to 40A or so. I'm not certain of the capacity of your alternator but the one in my Vit is only 50A and I'm pushing it to the extreme with 3 LIGHTFORCE spotties.. I'm upgrading to a BOSHE 120A as soon as the funds become available.

Let me know if this helps..

[royce]

I bet your fuel gauge reads funny at the same time too

common earth fault on 1 litres, easy fix, run a wire from the negative battery terminal to the bolt hole on the firewall next to where the clutch cable bolts on, make sure you clean the metal back for a good contact

[fenton]

My 1.3 has an alternator off a Ford Laser on it. I didn't do the mod but it looks like it went on fairly easy

[oscar]

voltage drop is nothing to do with the alternater itself.

its the connections etc. feel for heat on the connections or get a multimetre and measure around, eg: between battery and enging / body.
have the car running with full load.

if the alt cant keep up u will get duller lights than normal and ya battery voltage will drop.

[josh9465]

EB FORD alternator comes with a v pulley. only have to put a 10mm drill through the mounting hole and re wire it. also slight griding to top mount.

gets you 60Amps. well its better than 40amps

[oscar]

EL Fairmont (110amp) more load on engine though